Oct. 17 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Philips Electronics NV said it
may be forced to review alternatives for its television
subsidiary as negotiations to sell a majority to Hong Kong-based
TPV Technology Ltd. drag out

Philips, based in Amsterdam, planned to shift the
subsidiary to TPV by the end of the year. Maintaining that
schedule has become more challenging as the overall market for
consumer electronics suffers, Chief Executive Officer Frans van
Houten said on a conference call, as Philips reported earnings.

While Philips isn’t “miles apart’ with TPV, negotiations
continue to be ‘‘intense,’’ Van Houten said. The CEO, who
engineered the deal shortly after taking over in April, said he
remains in favor of the TPV partnership remains, and he declined
to say which alternatives Philips is considering.

Philips is ceding control of its 80-year-old television
unit after four years of losses at the subsidiary, shrinking a
consumer-electronics business that’s struggled to stem rising
competition and lower costs from Asian rivals. The television
business lost 54 million euros ($75 million) in the third
quarter, Philips said today.

Van Houten had made fixing the TV-division, which employed
about 3,600 people at the end of the third quarter, a priority,
after his predecessor Gerard Kleisterlee struggled to turn it
around for a decade. Philips will retain a 30 percent stake in
the partnership and receive royalties of at least 50 million
euros annually starting in 2013, according to the accord when
the deal was announced in April.

‘‘We think it is essential that Philips closes the deal,
but these remarks and longer negotiations suggest the exit will
come at higher cost,’’ Victor Bareno, an analyst at SNS
Securities, said in a note to investors today.

Philips is among the last remaining mass-market producers
of televisions in Europe, a niche now only occupied by luxury
manufacturers including Loewe AG of Germany and Bang & Olufsen
AS from Denmark. Siemens AG and Nokia Oyj, the world’s largest
maker of mobile phones, made televisions before giving up
production to narrow their focus.